Knife and sheath combinations heretofore in use do not provide a fully satisfactory means for securely holding a knife in a sheath while still permitting a quick release of the knife when desired. Those features are particularly important for sporting uses such as for underwater divers who must be able to insert and remove a knife from a sheath quickly and efficiently while still being assured that the knife will not inadvertently slip from the sheath.
One style of knife and sheath combination heretofore available provides a sheath with a simple blade receiving pocket that holds the blade in frictional engagement. Such a combination is not satisfactory since underwater movement can cause the blade to lose frictional engagement with the sheath and slide from it.
Another form of a knife and sheath combination provides a strap that is secured around the knife handle, usually by a snap fastener or the like. Those arrangements are not fully satisfactory because the snap is not always properly fastened securely, and because the user will frequently fumble with the snap, especially if the user is operating under conditions in which he cannot readily look at the sheath as he is snapping the strap over the knife handle. Other combinations are shaped to require insertion of the knife in one direction only.